Pentagon Responds to Backlash From Mormons

The Pentagon just undid a religious-labeling move that set off a wave of complaints from Latter-day Saint lawmakers. After rolling out a new system that shrank more than 200 religious affiliation codes to 31 and grouped 21 under a broad "Christian heading—while leaving off the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—the Defense Department has now stripped out the umbrella label altogether, Deseret News reports. Each faith will instead stand on its own.

A Pentagon statement on X said the earlier list "included redundant and unnecessary labeling, and the mistake has been fixed." The Pentagon said its role is "not to adjudicate theological debates, but instead to ensure sincerely-held faith is respected and encouraged in our ranks." The list, the Pentagon said, is intended to help chaplains and commanders do their jobs. Utah's congressional delegation, almost all members of the church, had pressed the Trump administration to revise the policy.

Sen. Mike Lee said he raised the issue directly with the president and publicly urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to change course. Sen. John Curtis and several House Republicans from Utah also contacted the Pentagon, arguing Latter-day Saints are clearly Christian and asking, in Rep. Mike Kennedy's words, only "to be accurately portrayed."

• "I think it's very unfortunate that the Pentagon has chosen to identify basically every faith group in America that professes faith in Jesus Christ as Christian with one exception: that is those belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," Lee said in a video on Sunday, per CNN. "I find this offensive, not just because that happens to be my faith and not just because it happens to be the faith of tens of thousands of US military personnel, but it's also just repugnant to any sense of decency, any sense of our common heritage and our common belief that the government needs to not weigh in on doctrinal disputes between various religious denominations." On Monday, Lee said he was "grateful to Hegseth for correcting the error."